Being Patient – For Many of Us – Doesn’t Come Easy!
As I waited on hold for over an hour with two companies related to a ministry trip I am planning for the near future, I found myself becoming really irritated at the Chat guy who told me he couldn’t help me, and that I would need to contact the credit card company to find out about the discount offered on the airline’s website. While the wait was shorter, I still had to be on hold to talk to the credit card company rep. She proceeded to tell me that it wasn’t in the purview of her company to grant or deny the discount since it was exclusively the airline’s offer.
So, guess what I had to do? That’s right! I had to contact the airline again. When I found a number to call, I got caught in a loop offering me some medical device, and no matter which option I chose I was directed to one of those agents. When I finally convinced them I didn’t want it, they cut me off….twice.
Meanwhile outside my home-office, life was happening, kids were playing, and a tea party was going on. I could not do any of it. When the party broke up and folks were going home, I was still on hold. Oh, yeah, this time it was the airline again. The time is now 2:42pm and I have been dealing with this since before noon. Now, I am on hold again after speaking to an airline agent who tried to get me to call the credit card company again. Not gonna’ do it.
In the meantime, I am a calmer man now that I realize these folks are not equipped or authorized to answer my question or fix the dilemma. I am to speak to them calmly and fulfill James 1:19-20 – “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires”. The anger has subsided, I am listening longer, and trying to use a very calm and low-keyed answer-voice. Maybe we’ll get something done, but the main lesson here is for me to remember these folks are imago dei-made in God’s image, and are to be respected, cared for, and spoken to as I would wish to be spoken to. There’s another verse: Matthew 7:12 – “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
That’s a very golden Golden Rule!